What would happen? (Hogwarts marauders era)

5: The Hogwarts Library

After one particularly hard charms class, Remus and me decided to go to the library. Lily decided to tag along when we announced this to the other gryffindors. James rolled his eyes at us, grabbed Sirius' shoulder and led him away to do something 'cool' and 'not boring'. Peter followed them excitedly, of course he did, Marlene and Alice having both their own plans. Lily usually would go with the girls, or hang out with Severus, but decided she wanted to go to the library today.
I stuck out my tongue at Sirius and James when they walked away, declaring that we still weren't boring. It wasn't offending me, but it was. And I actually puffed up my cheeks as we walked through the corridor to the library.

Lily as well looked annoyed as she crossed her arms and gave a frown. "Potter really is mean, I don't understand how you guys can stand him."

Remus smiled nervously, giving a shrug.

"For once, I agree," I said with a small huff, "It's so mean to call us boring!"

When we arrived to the library conversation turned to amazement at the amount of books. We looked around, chased books that flew away, and eventually learned to see which books would do stuff like that, and how to make sure they didn't. 'Just stroke the spine', a prefect told us when we found a book biting at us, and I tried not to laugh.

When we walked up to the person sitting at a desk and checking books, madam Pince, to borrow our chosen books, we found she wasn't at all as amazing as the library was.

"Shh!" Madam Pince put a finger to her thin lips, her eyes ablaze with the kind of stern that could match Professor McGonagall.

Lily spoke up again, but more hushed, "May we borrow these books, please?"

"Just fill in the form, your name," Madam Pince pointed to a spot on the paper, "The title and author of the book."

Lily was first, then Remus, and then me. Nervously I picked up the quill. I dipped it in the ink pot, I put it to the paper and neatly I wrote down my name. Maybe I was gripping the quill too hard, but the next second, the ink flew out of it, creating a splotch on the paper. It was annoyingly big of a drop, but it didn't cover anyone's name or book.
I froze up, and with wide eyes looked at Madam Pince. Her lips tightened into a thin line. She said nothing as I wrote down the title of the book, hoping that the small spot wouldn't matter as much as it felt like it did.
When we walked away, Lily broke into a few giggles.

"That was so scary!" Lily burst out when we exited the library.

"It was," I whispered, "I felt as though I'd be eaten today."

Remus laughed at us, saying it wasn't that bad. Me and Lily shook our heads, then we laughed.

Suddenly it happened.
James and Sirius ran past us.
Our giggles came to a pause as we looked after them. The hallway had been rather empty. Some students were walking through it, others sitting on a bench or talking about something, but most were outside enjoying the weather.
Seeing James and Sirius running past was a surprise. They seemed panicked.

"I'll catch you!!"

Three heads turned around to find someone chasing the other two Gryffindors. The caretaker, Argus Filch, ran after the two students as they panted. Argus Filch was a tall person, with strange hair that I wondered if he ever went to a hairdresser...? I decided to ignore the hooked nose and lean back, instead looking at the cat next to the caretaker. It looked badly taken care off, though it's fur had some shine to it, looking as though it was well groomed even though it was messy and slightly dirty.
I frowned at the two as they ran past.

Remus raised his eyebrows as he looked at the scene. "Talking about being cool, this will lose us house points."

I nodded, thinking about the amount of house points that yet would have to be lost. "I'm sure we'll earn them back somehow, how about we go to the common room to get our homework done?"

Remus nodded and Lily paused.
"Actually," Lily said, "I've got to meet up with my friend, Severus. He's in Slytherin, so we hadn't really had the chance to talk a lot."

A look of realisation hit Remus, but before he could say anything I spoke up.
"That's fine, just be sure not to get behind on Homework."

"Of course," Lily nodded with a smile, "No need to mention it." She hurried away, and I noticed she looked glad of something. Maybe of us not judging her friend for being in Slytherin.

Remus urged me to hurry to the common room so we could have more time to do something fun after we finished our homework, and I agreed. Mostly I just wanted to start on charms early, the essay really fascinated me.

We walked passed some open windows, looking out over a courtyard.
And then my arm was caught and I was pulled into a broom closet.

"Shit—" I let out despite myself, only then realising it was just James. He gave me a grin as Sirius closed the door, Remus pulled in by him.

"What do you guys want?" Remus said a bit annoyed, "It's a bit rude to just do that."

"Besides," I crossed my arms, "Aren't we too boring for you?"

James and Sirius gave each other a glance.
Then Sirius shook his head, "Well I didn't call you guys boring, did I?"
James grinned and gave Sirius a thumbs up.
Sirius went on, "All we need is you guys to distract Flich. We don't want to lose any house points."

Remus gave them a small glare. "Alright, what did you do?"

"Pretty rude to assume it was us," James argued.

"But yeah," Sirius said, "It was us."
James gave Sirius a shake with his head. 'Too honest', he seemed to communicate.

I gave a sigh, trying to hide my amusement. "For just this once, and only because I actually care about the house points."

Remus rolled his eyes. "We shouldn't clean up their mess."

"Or we should," I argued, "Think about it, Gryffindor is going to hate us if we lose house points, not just them, the entire year."

Remus considered it, then he nodded.
"We can just tell Filch there's..."

"People throwing fire crackers in the corridor," I finished with a smile, "That should work!"

Excitedly Remus nodded. "It should! Let's go!"
As we hurried out, determined now to save the house points, James and Sirius were left to wonder how we got that excited. Then they gave each other a concerned look; They yet had to find Peter.

Finding Filch, Remus and me walked up to him.
"Er, sir, Filch," I said nervously. The person in question turned to me with a mean glare, "I don't mean to bother you, but I think it was against the rules to use firecrackers in the corridors."

Remus nodded, "Seventh floor."

"They had red hair," I added, hoping that there was a certain twins who Filch would know.

"The prewetts!" Filch called out, raising his fist in anger, "I'll get those bloody..." whatever words followed, they were lost in an angry grumble as Filch stomped off.

Me and Remus high fived and hurried back to the broom closet. With the four of us, we found Peter hiding behind an armour stand, and then hurried up to the common room.

We all cheered and sat down tiredly.
"Time for homework!" I said excitedly, opening my book bag and grabbing my charms book.

"Still boring," James said and Sirius laughed.

I rolled my eyes at them, trying to ignore their taunts. I just wanted to learn!